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Articles about "social use of the senses"
Temáticas
Vol 3 No. 5 (2020)
Centrality of the senses: movements of a blind person through the center of Mexico City
- Miguel Angel Aguilar Diaz
Whe field of sensory studies is still a developing academic field; however, various contributions from different social sciences have begun to shape a body of relevant knowledge. When thinking about life in cities as a sensory experience, several questions arise about the preponderance of one sense over others, or about the way in which the senses are socially structured, and from there arise questions about the differentiation in their use and significance. This text explores this topic based on an in-depth interview and on walking around downtown Mexico City with a blind person. This testimony highlights the importance of the sensitive world through which his tours take place. Orientation strategies, sensitive memory and the elaboration of sequential mental maps are crucial for movement, as are textures, smells and sounds. It is therefore possible to think of the existence of a sensory order from which routes and interactions are structured. The narrative of the displacements is also important insofar as it shapes the experience, makes it communicable and defines the narrator.